Sole Survivor

“An 8-year-old boy who is a Dutch citizen is the sole survivor of a deadly plane crash in Libya, airline officials said Wednesday. Jerzy Buzek, president of the European Parliament, said the child’s survival, ‘given this tragic event, is truly a miracle.'” (CNN)

In the tragic crash of Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A330-200, Ruben van Assouw is the sole survivor. He is not the first to have survived a major air disaster in this way.  CNN recounts at least eight other such survivors in their article “Fate or fluke? Air crash sole survivors“.  The author comments that “Statistically improbable, the fact of his survival is also unlikely to shed any light on the mysterious factors that increase the chances of escaping alive from a plane wreck.”

We can’t begin to imagine what this young child is thinking or experiencing, or how he will deal with his terrible ordeal. Will he feel guilty as he wonders why he was spared while over 100 others perished? Will he ponder the ideas of fate, or destiny? Will he wonder if he is meant for some greater purpose?

Stories like this remind us that there are things in life that are beyond our control or comprehension. Our “everything under control” lives are jarringly interrupted as we realize that we don’t have it all nicely planned out after all. There is a finality and incomprehensibility about life after all that causes us to look beyond ourselves for something greater, for some meaning among the chaos, a purpose beyond the immediate.

The president of the European Parliament called the boy’s survival a “miracle”. Elsewhere a blogger called it “freakish luck.” Naturally, the question arises, if God did perform a miracle, why only save this one boy? What about all of the other people on the plane? A full investigation into the accident is pending by Libyan authorities. But it will not, cannot, reveal the answers to the deeper questions that are most pressing to this lone survivor. Incidents like these remind us that we don’t have all the answers. At times like these having a deeply rooted foundation in something is what can carry people through.

When you  feel like a “sole survivor”, where do your thoughts turn? Does it cause you to think about deeper questions of life, purpose, and meaning? If you need someone to talk to, please contact an online mentor to talk privately & confidentially via email.

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Tags: Afriqiyah Airways, Culture, faith, fate, fluke, hope, miracle, plane crash, Ruben van Assouw, sole survivor, World

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